Letters, Brothers, and Life
by hazelgracegus
Summary: They spent every moment of their lives together, so when the two brothers are sent to live at different schools, they don't know how they will to cope. They must make new friends and learn to live away from the perfect world that they have always known.
1. prologue

Prologue

Lorcan and Lysander Scamander were brothers. Twins, to be exact. They had spent every single second of their lives together, never parting even once. Always traveling the world with their parents (both of whom were naturalists), neither of them had ever really had friends, or indeed anyone to truly count on other than each other. They spoke each others words, thought each others thoughts, and lived each others lives. All this made it even more difficult when the two boys found out that they would be spending the rest of the year, and probably longer, apart. Their parents had decided to travel to America in hopes of finding more solid proof of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, and they had decided that Lorcan and Lysander were to have a proper education. Lysander had received a full scholarship for Durmstrang Institute, the school that their father had gone to, while Lorcan would be attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the school where their mother had been educated. Neither boy was happy about the choice that their parents had chosen for them, but, as Durmstrang was a good school, Luna and Rolf had not wanted to waste a scholarship, and as Lorcan hadn't passed the test to receive one, there was nothing they could do about it.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

_ Lysander, _

_ I can't tell you enough that I wish you were here. I was sorted into Ravenclaw, same as Mum, but I can't be pleased knowing that you're somewhere else. I feel empty inside without you, and I can only hope that you are doing better then I am. Enough with my moping. I assume you're tired of it by now. How is Durmstrang? It it as good as Dad said it would be? I have heard rumors here, that it is a terrible place. Very strict and harsh. For your sake, I hope that they really are only rumors. But if they're not, then do keep your head. You never could say no, and i'm afraid that you'll do something stupid before long. _

_ Take care,_

_Lorcan _

_P.s. My friend, Albus, says that his parents knew Mum. Apparently his sister has her middle name or something. _

As Lysander read Lorcan's letter over again, he couldn't stop from feeling a bit let down. For all his talk about hating Hogwarts and feeling empty inside, and all that, at least he had friends. And that was at least more than Lysander had. He had expected his brother to be as disappointed with his school as Lysander was with his.

"What's that?"

The voce had come out of nowhere, and Lysander jumped at it. But it wasn't a harsh voice, it sounded merely curious. He opened his eyes and looked up. There stood a tall girl with long, wavey brown hair and eyes of the same color. She was wore a worn, dirty shirt with the Durmstrang crest on it, and looked completely out of place surrounded by the pristine uniforms of the other students. He was so intrigued by this curious sight that he quite forgot that the girl had asked him a question. It was only when she coughed lightly, to remind him that she was still there, did he speak. "Just...just a letter."

He had expected her to sneer, make some nasty comment, and leave. But she did quite the opposite, and sat herself down on the couch beside him, chattering away like she had never spoken to anyone before in her life.

"Really? Who's it for? Do you think she'll write back? If she does, can you show me? I've always wanted someone to write to, but I-"

She stopped abruptly, and Lysander looked up at her, confused. The girl's face was turning bright red, and she had a look of someone who had just been caught saying anything and everything that she shouldn't. Lysander couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl, and to ease the awkward silence, he spoke, trying to act as though nothing had happened. "It's actually from my brother, he goes to Hogwarts."

She nodded, "That's nice, I guess. I'll see you around sometime."

She stood up to leave and Lysander jumped, startled. He hadn't known her for long, but it didn't seem to be in her character to just leave like that. She was almost out the door when he made up his mind. He jumped up and raced after her. He stopped her in the doorway and smiled up at her, "I still don't know your name." he said.

She frowned slightly, "why do you want to know that?"

"well, we're friends, aren't we? How can we be friends if I don't know what to call you."

The girl stared at him for a moment, then her face broke into a huge grin, "Call me Alethia."

_I was going to make this chapter longer before I posted it, but I came dowm with a terrible case of writer's block, so I was hoping that someone might possibly give me an idea (for lack of a better term) and hopefully I won't have such short chapters in the future. Thanks! Please review! _

_By the way, Alethia's name was chosen for a reason, if you know what it means, or what it is a form of, then you might find something interesting about her character or what is to come involving her._

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	3. Chapter 2

_Sorry for the long wait. I had trouble writing this chapter, and it didn't turn out as good as I hoped, but, I hope you enjoy anyway! _

Chapter Two

"So, let me get this straight," Lorcan said, disbelief on his face, "there's you and James, your cousins, Dominique, Louis, Fred, Molly, and Rose.

Al grinned. "Yep. And thats just the ones at Hogwarts. But thats all you really need to know in order to play Quidditch with us."

"I already told you, I can't play Quidditch, it's my brother who's good at that. I don't even like it much."

"You can fly, can't you?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"Then you can play. It's basically the same thing."

Loracn tried to protest, but Al had already gone. Lorcan saw him standing by the Gryffindor table, talking to a tall, pretty girl with silvery hair that ran down her entire back. Lorcan frowned slightly. He really didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of his new friends. And, quite apart from that, Quidditch reminded him of Lysander. He had always been the brilliant flyer, while Lorcan was perfectly happy to be cheering him on.

"OI! WAKE UP ALREADY!"

Lorcan didn't recognize the voice, so his immediate thought was to roll over, and get back to sleep, but he had hardly done the first step when the voice spoke again.

"Is he always like this in the morning? I mean, it's not even that early..." he trailed off, waiting for an answer.

A new voice spoke next, "I dunno, exactly. He's always gone when we wake up, but it _is _still pretty early."

There was the sound of someone trying and failing to suppress a laugh.

Lorcan sighed and opened his eyes. There was no way that he could fall back asleep now.

A sudden hush filled the room, but it was soon broken by a loud shout of "HE'S ALIVE!" and then Lorcan was being crushed by the arms of a boy that he didn't even know.

He threw the boy's arms off him, and sat up trying to get a look at his attacker. Before him stood a tall, slim boy with short hair that matched the color of the girl's hair that he had seen talking to Al yesterday. He grinned and held his hand out for Lorcan to shake. Lorcan ignored it.

"Do I even know you?" he asked.

The boy chuckled. "I doubt it. I'm Louis, Al's cousin. He asked me to wake you up, as he's i'm in Ravenclaw, too."

"Oh." he paused. "Have I seen you before?"

Louis laughed again, "don't think so, i'm in third year."

"Oh." Lorcan said again.

"Well, what are you waiting for? We have to get down to the pitch before it gets taken!"

Lorcan groaned—he had forgotten all about Quidditch. But, even though he would much rather be sleeping, he rolled out of bed and dressed, with Louis bouncing excitedly the whole time.

The two boys arrived at the pitch out of breath and sweating, or at least Lorcan was. He didn't know how it was possible, but Louis ran faster than anyone he had ever seen before.

"Hey!" said Al when he saw the two boys, "what took you so long?"

Louis grinned and jerked his thumb in Lorcan's direction in response. Al chuckled. Lorcan could see two boys standing off to the side, listening to the conversation. One had untidy black hair that stuck up at the back, and the other had flaming red hair that matched nearly everyone's in the current area. The black haired boy muttered a curse and dug his hand into the pocket of his robes, pulling out a few sickles, and pressed them into the other's hand. It was a moment before Lorcan realized that they had been betting on him. The idea was weird...wrong somehow...it just didn't fit. He shook his head as the tall, blond girl started to talk.

"Ok," she said in a commanding voice, "I, Rose, and Fred will play chaser, Molly and Al will be beaters, James can seek, and Lorcan will keep."

"What about me?" Louis burst out, I always keep! I'm not expected to referee, am I?"

The girl rolled her eyes. "It's just temporary" she said, "We have to let Lorcan play, so, you have to referee."

Louis stepped back from the girl's hard gaze, grumbling to himself. The girl turned her attention back to Lorcan.

"I'm Dominique Weasley." She pointed to the two boys that had been betting earlier, "Thats Fred and James. Molly was a short, rather plump, red haired girl. She was talking to a tall girl with brown hair who turned out to be Rose.

The seven people playing all mounted their brooms and took off. Lorcan headed straight to the goal posts. He wanted to get this over with as fast as he could. He tried to keep his eyes on the chasers, but they moved so fast. He was shocked at how good they were, and, before he the quaffle had even come close to him, James had caught the snitch. James saw Lorcan staring and grinned apologetically, "It was a slow snitch." was all he said.

They had played about three matches before Lorcan started to crack. He hated what he was doing and he hadn't really slept much the night before, so, when a huge black ball came rushing in his direction, he didn't fully comprehend what was happening. Until it hit him square in the face.

_I learned something today...I can't write Quidditch :P _

_Please review! _

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	4. Chapter 3

_I'M SO SORRY! I'M SUCH A TERRIBLE AUTHOR FOR ALL THIS! Please forgive me. I will do my best to get the chapters up sooner than this in the future. _

Chapter 4

Lysander didn't really understand it, but Alethia was becoming his best friend. Of course, he had no one other than Lorcan to compare her to, but she was just like him in many ways. In fact, he had said that to her just the other day, and, after looking confused for a good period of time, she had smiled and said, 'thank you'. To the other students and teachers, they made an odd pair, but worked well in many ways. The students liked them because it prevented them from ever having to speak to either of them again, while the teachers liked the fact that they kept each other entertained.

One night, Lysander sat alone by the empty fire place in the Common Room, trying to finish an impossibly hard paper on aquatic Norwegian plants and their uses in potion making, when Charlie Kettle, the head prefect at Durmstrang, came over to him wearing a very serious expression, even though Lysander could tell that he was hiding a smile underneath.

"Good morning, Scamander."

Lysander failed to point out that it wasn't morning at all, but late night. He didn't want to cause any trouble.

"Iv'e just been down to the headmaster's office. He'd like to speak to you."

Lysander stared at him. He hadn't done anything wrong, had he? "why?"

"No questions. No speaking, actually. Especially when you see the headmaster."

Lysander nodded and got to his feet. He followed Charlie down a long, dark passage lined with many lit torches until they reached a marble statue of a bear. It towered over Lysander and Charlie, standing about 10 feet tall. Its claws were extended; they were three inches long at least. Charlie stopped right under the bear, a slight smile on his face. His mouth moved, but Lysander suddenly couldn't hear anything save the blood pounding in his ears. His head spun, and all he saw black, he was vaguely aware of the ground rushing toward him, and he hit the ground. All of a sudden, his vision cleared, and he heard Charlie gasping for air as he tried to haul him up to his feet again. Lysander threw him off, muttering, "i'm fine." under his breath.

Charlie glanced at him – he was already back beneath the statue of the bear, murmuring in a strange language. "Of course you are, why on earth wouldn't you be?"

Lysander stared in surprise. Hadn't Charlie seen him fall? But, then in the sext second, all thoughts of falling had been driven from his mind as he blinked, and the bear statue was gone, disappeared as though it had never been there. He got to his feet, and, trying to calm his shaking hands, followed Charlie into the dark passage that the statue (Lysander was sure that it really had been there) had been hiding.

The tunnel had a single torch attached to the wall right at the front, and Charlie took it down, muttering a spell to remove it. Dead silence filled the air, and water dripped from the ceiling, it's sound only to be lost among the dark rocks that lined either side. Then, quite suddenly, the tunnel stopped. At the end was a huge silver door. All around the frame were very intricate patterns, following the grain of the wood. Charlie said something in the strange language again, and the door swung open to reveal a large circular room. It was grander than anything Lysander had ever seen in his life, and certainly didn't belong in a place like Durmstrang. The walls were plated in gold, and the floor was covered in a deep black carpet. Staring at it, Lysander felt like he was falling, the carpet pulling him into its depths. Lysander felt something, a pressure on his shoulder, and looked up to see a tall, dark-skinned, long-haired man with his hand resting in Lysander's shoulder. He smiled lightly and, when he spoke, his voice was deep and kind.

"I'd be careful if I were you, kid. You might go tumbling down there, and then where would we be?"

Lysander stared, and the first thing out of his mouth was "You're American." Then he blushed. "Sorry, sir, I just-"

But the man was chuckling softly. "It's fine, son."

Lysander almost said 'I'm not your son,' but he stopped himself and instead asked, "Are you the headmaster?" Then, in an afterthought, added, "Sir."

The man's expression hardened, and he shook his head. "No. I'm his brother."

Lysander opened his mouth again, but the man cut him off.

"Let's get you up before my darling brother comes in and accuses me of abusing students."

It was only then that Lysander realized that he had been kneeling on the floor by the rug this whole time. He blushed again and Scrambled to his feet.

The door sprang open with a bang, and Lysander jumped, and turned around to see a man standing there. He guessed that this was the man's brother—_his_ headmaster, and he had a feeling that he should bow or something, but he couldn't. The man that had so kindly pulled him away from falling into the floor and the man that stood in front of him were so different that Lysander had a very hard time in believing they were related at all. This man was short, with the palest skin Lysander had ever seen in his life. He wore a long, blue robe that was strained tightly around his middle, and the matching hat he wore couldn't disguise the fact that he had very little hair on his head. And, when he spoke, his voice was high and weak, nothing at all like the dark man's deep, reassuring voice. "Gaius" he said, his tiny voice still somehow managing to sound authoritative. "What a pleasant surprise."

Lysander wondered how anyone could ever say the word 'pleasant' with such a look of disgust on their face.

The dark man, Gaius, gave a curt nod and left the circular room without a backwards glance. Lysander couldn't help but wish he had stayed. He hated the idea of being in a room alone with the headmaster more than he cared to admit.

The headmaster waited a few moments before speaking. "Good morning, Scamander."

Lysander vaguely wondered if anyone here knew the difference between morning and night.

"You are probably wondering why I have called you down here."

Lysander nodded, then turned pink, and said "Yes, Sir."

The headmaster smiled in a way that it looked like more of a grimace, and said, "I simply wanted to check on how you were doing here. I understand it can be difficult to adjust to a new school, and I want you to know you can always come and talk to me."

Lysander stared. Surely he had heard wrong! But he just nodded and said, "of course, Sir."

"Good, good." He raised his voice, "Kettle!"

Charlie appeared, seemingly melting out from the wall, and Lysander followed him, past the statue of the bear, through the dark passage way, past the many torches lining the walls, up into the Common Room. It was only when he was in bed, reminding himself to tell Alethia all about it tomorrow, did he realize that the headmaster had never told him his name. And, with that, he drifted off into sleep.

_I'm not really sure what I think of this chapter... But, then again, that's sort of how I feel about all my writing. Maybe you can tell me what you think of it...in a review. :)_

_Edit: I reuploaded this chapter because I realized that I had been using the wrong brother in this chapter... oops!_

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	5. Chapter 4

_This chapter is shorter than most, but at least it's up at a reasonable time._

Chapter 5

"Do you think he'll be all right?"

"Yes, of course he is. We've all been hit by bludgers before."

"Well, yeah, but _he _hasn't."

"Louis, Dominique, shut up already! He's waking up!"

Lorcan blinked, and opened his eyes. His first thought was that he had had some wild dream and that he had woken up, pressed against Lysander in a tent somewhere remote in South America. Then he saw faces, each framed by a mess of wild red, perfect blond, or bushy brown hair, and the whole thing came flooding back to him. He sat up, and felt a spasm of pain ripple through his body. He shuddered, and quickly lay back down again. A cool cloth pressed against his forehead and he smiled as the water dripped down his face. He closed his eyes. Then quickly opened them again as he felt something long and soft tickle his face. His eyes flew open and he saw that Dominique was standing over him, pressing a damp cloth to his head. He blushed fiercely, and caught a glimpse of Al smirking at him before Madame Pomfry came rushing over.

"Why didn't you tell me he woke up? He needs treatment! I've always said that Quidditch was a dangerous sport! But will anyone listen to me? No!"

She went on rambling like this for quite some time after the Potter-Weasley cousins had left, and Lorcan was more than happy to leave the hospital wing and go to dinner. He met Al on his way to the Ravenclaw table. Al smiled at him and asked if he was alright, worry spreading under his smile.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I've been hit by bludgers before, you know."

"Oh, I thought that you didn't play Quidditch."

"I don't. Lysander does. He's pretty bloody brilliant at it, too..." Lorcan trailed off, thinking.

Al stared, more worry clouding his face. "I- I'd better go and, uh, eat, okay? You should get dinner, too."

Lorcan nodded and headed for the Ravenclaw table, turning just in time to see the entire Potter-Weasley family crowded around Al. Lorcan frowned slightly, he was fine, really, he was, but just walked on. When Louis, Dominique, and Rose joined him at the Ravenclaw table, he acted like nothing was wrong, like he couldn't see their worried faces. But, really, he was disappointed. He had thought that he had finally found friends who wouldn't worry so much. Everyone he had ever met or befriended in his life had found cause to worry about him. These people were no different.

Lorcan went to bed early that night, hoping to avoid Louis, Dominique and Rose. He lay in bed, in the dark for hours, and, before the other boys came upstairs, he had fallen asleep. He dreamed that he was locked away in a large, circular room. The wall were plated in gold and the floor was covered in a deep, black carpet. It was a nice place, nicer than anyplace Lorcan had ever seen before, but there was something wrong. He could sense it. He could hear it, too. It was wind, only stronger. A hurricane indoors. Something coming closer and closer. Something that would result in a million deaths. Lorcan tried to open the door, to get out of there, but the door handle was nowhere to be found. He turned back to face the room, and the carpet was growing. Expanding madly by the second. The sound was louder, filling Lorcan's ears until he could hear nothing at all except for the terrible winds and the pounding of his heart. He backed away, against the wall, somehow knowing not to touch the rug. But it wasn't a rug anymore. It had changed, becoming something new. A giant black hole that pulled everything in. A huge hurricane that let nothing escape. Lorcan scrambled up onto the nearest table, and slipped. He fell down, once more into darkness. When he woke the next morning, he remembered nothing of the dream at all, though he did steer clear of the rug in the Common Room, for a reason quite unknown to him.

_PLEASE REVIEW! (I know there are at least a few of you out there who are reading this story, and to the one person who did review,__OuToFcOuNtRoL__, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I love you. And I'm __sorry I didn't get back to you sooner about it... _

_Anyway, if you review with anything at all, even hate or simply saying that you read and liked it, I will love you forever. _

_If you have a tumblr, you can follow me here: brothersofanderson(.)tumblr(.)com_

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